Review U.D.O. ‘The Legacy’

There is not much to say about Udo Dirkschneider. The singer with the raspy and distinctive voice has been one of the icons of German heavy metal for decades. Known as the voice of Accept, Dirkschneider has grown into an artist in his own right after parting ways with the band, and has come up with countless metal classics since 1987.

Starting with the brilliant debut ‘Animal House’ to the latest longplayer ‘Game Over’ all records have class, power and quality. Like hardly anyone else, Dirkschneider manages to stay true to his sound, using his iconic voice and yet always coming up with variations.

After 35 years it is now time to look back and take a snapshot of what has been achieved to date. This means for a musician/band a ‘Best Of…’ album, which in the case of U.D.O. is called ‘The Legacy’.

It starts with ‘Fear Detector’ from the latest record. All in all the album contains a tracklist with 33 songs of which ‘They Want War’ from the debut album is the glorious finale. Not to forget hymns like ‘Metal Never Dies’, ‘Break the Rules’, ‘Holy’,… One could continue this list almost endlessly.

In order to add a certain incentive for buying the album, U.D.O. have added four rare bonus tracks to the release, of which the galloping ‘Dust and Rust’ is the most impressive.

‘The Legacy’ is a typical ‘Best Of…’ album which perfectly sums up the singer’s solo career so far, but at the same time offers little that is new. Perhaps the one or other surprise would not have been a bad idea, which does not diminish the quality of the 33 songs and he exceptional position of the German metal icon.